One of the major problems faced by the satellite industry is the high cost of launching space vehicles. Since space vehicles are typically launched individually, launch costs increase quickly when the deployment of multiple space vehicles is required.
Conventionally, the problem of launching multiple different space vehicles in two different missions, orbital planes and altitudes has been solved by launching the two space vehicles in two different launch vehicles. Since the launch costs for a single launch vehicle exceed $100M, the conventional approach would cost more than $200M for two launches.
Mindful of the high expense of individually launching multiple space vehicles, it is considered highly desirable to provide for a method for inexpensively launching multiple space vehicles together, sharing the overall launch costs amongst several space vehicles.